This blog is dedicated to sharing the adventures of my children and their friends during their service as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while educating those who are interested in the beliefs and practices of the Mormon people. This site is not an official site or an affiliate site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Please also visit Mormon.org or LDS.org.

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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Drowning - Elder Kolby Madsen

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

(Note to reader: Highlighted words link to additional information. Some names are omitted for privacy. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.)

Elder Kolby Madsen, Denmark Copenhagen Mission

Ok, well first off, Elder Ogden is in my district. I love that kid. We were with them twice this week. They had a baptism here this week in Randers. It was my first baptismal interview. It was crazy. It's a whole different experience being on the other side of the questions, and hearing people tell you things using the gift of the Atonement, defiantly a humbling experience. Just seeing a different side of it has helped me gain a better view of the Atonement. It was awesome. But yes, Elder Ogden is great. Crazy small world. His brother actually served in Germany and just got home.

Anyway, I loved the picture, and that’s way cool about Josh. That mission seems fitting for him. Finally, someone to speak something other than Spanish! I have a couple of friends serving in that area. They are the first set of missionaries that will be sent to China when it opens, and they baptize a ton over there. That should be a great mission.

Elder Brindley lives about 15 minutes from where you stay in KOA. That was a part of his high school and his best friend lives there. He spent a ton of time there. That’s crazy, and that will be way fun for the dates. I but you all had really good time.

Well, this week was full of splits and going from area to area due to the baptism. It was great and a way fun experience. Things started of like usual. We were a little bummed because we could only meet with T** and V** once this week, but he did his reading and even read the beginning of the Book of Mormon from the testimony of Joseph Smith. He had a question about the urim and thummim, so that was fun to explain. My first thought was, "Great, how are we going to explain this?", but then we just felt impressed to have him read the guide in the back that explains words. It was perfect. Then we invited them to come to the baptism on Saturday, but they were not able to make it because they had family in town from København. It's ok though, that is a good excuse.

The best part about the whole appointment was that V**, only having been to church once in the past ten years, shared her testimony about her baptism and what it meant to her. It was great! The simple testimony of someone coming closer to their Heavenly Father is the best testimony.

We had the fun opportunity to go to Viborg (**look at the street view photos!) with the Elders over there. Elder Ogden and Elder Pitcher (my mission godson) is also Elder Francis' son. In other words, he was trained by Elder Francis. It was fun. We had four appointments in three hours, the last being C**'s baptismal interview.

I met with a family that I was able to meet before, my first time in Viborg. They said that I need to come visit them after my mission and eat dinner with them. It was funny. We had a good fun time.

C**’s baptism was great. It went smoothly, except for two things. First, the investigators from Viborg got lost on the way to our church, so they actually missed the baptism. But it's okay because both Elders who taught C**, and the Elder who baptized him did not go over the proper way of baptizing, and they never gave him a quick run through. So when the time came to put him in the water, he didn’t plug his mouth or nose and he thought he was going forward. So when Elder Syversen started to put him back, he turned and looked very scared to go backwards and was not ready. Then when he went under, his feet slipped out and he had a hard time getting his feet back under him to stand up. C** is very top heavy, with tiny legs. When he came out of the water, he started coughing and spitting out water. The first thing I thought was, "What would I do if I were in the pool right now?" I thought he was drowning. It was kind of funny because Elder Syversen just shoved him under water so he didn’t have to do it again. The first thing C** said when he stopped coughing was, "I got water in my lungs!" It was so hard not to laugh after we saw that he was okay! After that, it was very smooth. The investigators showed up just in time. C** had gotten dressed in dry clothes, so they didn't have to see him almost die, at the age of 65, while being baptized. Anyway, great week.

BEFORE Elder Brindley cut my hair.

We also had the opportunity to receive and contact a referral given to us on Sunday by an old missionary ægtepar (senior missionary couple) that served in Randers about 10 year ago. That was great.

This week really was so much fun. We had some good time, and I really did learn more about the Atonement as I have physically and spiritually seen it work in C**'s life. Just participating in the interview and his baptism (even though it was not as smooth as we planned), you could see he was happy and that it was the "perfect" baptism for him.

AFTER Elder Brindley cut my hair....thanks a lot!

Well, love you. Have a great week and keep up the good work! Have you fed the missionaries yet?

Med Kærlig Hilsen (with love),

Ældste Madsen

P.S. Just got transfer calls and I will still be in Randers. My new companion is the same age as Elder Brindley and Elder Wilsher, so it should be fun. I am excited. Well, good stuff!